The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's basketball team would have been in trouble if the score in the second half of Wednesday's game had held throughout.
But there was that first half to consider as well.
The Mocs played NAIA member Tennessee Wesleyan to a 51-all standstill in the second half, but UTC had built a 20-point lead in the first eight minutes of the game and led by 43 in the first half. The Mocs were up 56-14 at halftime on their way to a 107-68 midday win in front of 2,807 at McKenzie Arena.
The Mocs (8-2) play at Vanderbilt on Saturday, then host Jacksonville State on Dec. 21 for their last game before a 10-day break.
They shot 62 percent from the floor and made 14 of 27 3-point attempts against Tennessee Wesleyan (8-4), hitting 21 of 31 (68 percent) shots from the field in the first half, eight days after their last game, a 96-85 home win against Marshall.
Tre' McLean led the Mocs with 17 points in only 15 minutes Wednesday, Makale Foreman had 14 points - going 4-for-7 from 3-point range - and Rodney Chatman contributed 13 points while adding team highs in rebounds (seven) and assists (six). Casey Jones scored 12 points, while Johnathan Burroughs-Cook and Peyton Woods had 11 each.
"I think today is a hard game in the sense of fighting human nature," Mocs coach Matt McCall said. "We haven't played in eight days, it's an early game at noon on a Wednesday, not playing a D-1 team, so there's a lot of factors to today's game where you could come out and approach the game the wrong way. Our guys came out and did not do that.
"You could tell early on our guys were gassed and tired, but you could see them fight that off and play the game the right way. I was proud of that because we had to get that week out of us of not playing games and get ready for the Christmas stretch."
No UTC starter played more than 17 minutes. Chatman's 27 were the most, but the drop-off was miniscule once the reserves came in.
The Mocs dominated points in the paint (46-30), points off turnovers (28-13) and fast-break points (10-4), while forcing 23 turnovers. The lead peaked at 49 on a layup by Trayvond Massenburg with 5:36 to play; the team hit the century mark on a 3-pointer by Foreman with 4:48 remaining.
The 107 points scored were a season high and the second time the Mocs have topped the century mark this season, with their 102-54 win against National Christian College Athletic Association member Hiwassee on Nov. 14 the other. The 14 points allowed in the first half were the fewest since allowing the same number against Appalachian State on March 1, 2014.
"Games like this, we have to be more focused because it's easy to not get as enthusiastic," McLean said. "I think these games are the type of games we try to be over-excited for and take steps forward as a team."
The top two scorers for the Bulldogs were Chattanooga products. Tre Tiller, who played at Central, led all scorers with 25 points while adding a team-high seven rebounds, and Boyd-Buchanan graduate QD Cox had 15 points.
Lenny Pradia scored 10 with four assists and three steals.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.